#rick and morty season 3 episode 6

[mortysmith]

perpetually annoyed by the way newer seasons treat morty. Sorry not Sorry !

[daddyhiccup]

Would you fuck a clone of yourself?

"It's basically the same as masturbating, right? So no big Deal."

"It is not the same as masturbating; it'd be like having sex with your twin. Wrong and bad!"

"I'd totally fuck my clone because I want to know if I'm good in bed."

"To be honest, fucking my clone has always been my fantasy."

"I'd totally do all sorts of weird things to my clone I'd be embarrassed to ask someone else to do."

"Not only would I have sex with my clone, I'd probably make a bunch of clones and just get it on with all of them at once because that's how pro-clone fucking I am."

I was possessed by an irresistible need to make this after the latest episode.

[yahoo201027]

Day in Fandom History: September 18…

It's Thanksgiving at the Smith household and while hosting Space Beth for the holiday, both versions of Beth develop an affair with each other as Rick, Morty, and Summer spend their time with a brand-new ultra-realistic video game console. “Bethic Twinstinct” premiered on this day, A Year Ago.

[havokwreaker]

So I noticed something near the end of Season 6 episode 3.

Little Morty in an alien liquor bottle!

Look at he.

[the-devils-diaryy]

AGAIN, guys? Really???

[starflesh-moth]

bro why is this rick and morty episode serving selfscest what the fuck

[fanbun]

Here to say rickorty is literally becoming more canon each season.

In season 3 Rick had two emotional breakdowns over Morty rejecting him and it was revealed that Rick considers Morty an "irrational attachment."

In season 4 Rick manipulated Morty into giving up on his dreams so he would spend all his time adventuring with him instead. They referred to each other as partners and Rick asked Morty for a kiss on the lips.

In season 5 they broke up and then got back together. Terminology for romantic relationships was used throughout the final two episodes, with the show confirming that it was a purposeful metaphor.

In season 6 Morty expressed that he wanted Rick to earnestly tell him he loved him. So later on Rick made an effort to give Morty what he wanted by making a robot version of himself that would do so while he was busy falling back into his toxic behaviors. But since Morty got mad, Rick decided to welcome him into his "darkness" after all.

And now we're heading into season 7 with a visual that suggests Morty is closer to Rick than he's ever been. At the start of season 6 he tried to go in for a hug like this but Rick stopped him. The clear twisted romance-coded development between these two is insane.

[thesoftboiledegg]

I went to the smaller mall a couple of weeks ago. The head shop didn't have new Rick and Morty merchandise, but the employee gave me a free snack: crunchy biscuits in chocolate and cream!

Nothing in Rue 21, Hot Topic or the nerdy store, either. I was starting to lose hope until I spotted a new holographic sign in Spencer's. Seasons 1-3 still dominate merchandise, but we're slowly catching up to season six.

Marshall's also had a pair of psychedelic boxers.

That same day, I planned to visit another head shop in the area. Unfortunately, I didn't know that a car cruise was happening on the same street, so I ended up getting stuck in nightmare traffic until I turned around and went home.

The new Tesla location was also open and showing off their vehicles. Cybertrucks are uglier in person.

A week later, I decided to give the head shop another shot. This time, the road was clear. They had a couple of items:

Initially, I passed over the coloring book, thinking it was the same book that I photographed a while back. But I opened the book and found new illustrations from seasons 4-6, including some of my favorite scenes and episodes!

Yes, I like the stupid slut dragon episode.

Anyway, this weekend brought a shock: RUE 21 IS CLOSING! 😭 OK, I wasn't that shocked because this mall is notorious for driving stores out of business, but now the closest Rue 21 is an hour away. And that's not very close!

It's probably just a matter of time before the entire mall shuts down. But in the meantime, Hot Topic had a new shirt, which surprised me because they don't get new Rick and Morty merchandise very often:

I'm glad we're getting more season five apparel, but come on, where's the Crow Witch Rick shirt? Bruce Chutback gets a shirt, but not him? Mr. Nimbus spooking Phoenix Person is pretty funny, though.

And another sign in Spencer's!

One of the nerdy stores had a stack of comics. I love this Summer (variant?) cover.

And, finally, a visit to the bigger mall today resulted in this sign.

So far, it's been a slow year for Rick and Morty apparel. Merchandising usually explodes around Christmas, but before then, we might be limited to the occasional mug, shirt or metal sign.

Or maybe they're getting ready to unleash a barrage of Crow Witch Rick T-shirts and hoodies...right?

[fandomwe1rd0]

AWWWWWW This is so cute what- This is one of the only times Morty called Rick grandpa- The other times were I think season 1 episode 3, season 1 episode 5, here, and season 6 episode 1, andddd season 7 episode 6, and that's it-

[zeep-xanflorp]

so at this point everyone is accepting that rick and diane never had a healthy marriage right??

like i think what everyone assumed (including me) is that they retconned all the things about rick not believing in love in the first two seasons when they revealed rick's revenge quest in season 6. like i thought that because rick was doing all of that for diane and beth, that it was indicative of a healthy relationship. but i don't think that's the case anymore after looking into some old episodes. i truly believe it was the intentions of the writers to make him have a bad relationship w diane since the beginning.

so here's what i've been thinking right.

"listen morty, what people call love is just a chemical reaction that compels animals to breed. it hits hard, morty, and then it slowly fades, leaving you stranded in a failing marriage. i did it. your parents are gonna do it. break the cycle, morty. rise above. focus on science." (rick potion #9, ep 106)

the situation he describes is so specific. he describes "failing marriages" and compared his marriage to that of beth and jerry's which is infamously codependent and toxic.

"i couldn't make [marriage] work and i can turn a black hole into a sun, so..." (the wedding squanchers, ep 210)

he talks about how little he trusts in marriage. because despite his intelligence, he couldn't be happy in his own.

so these are the two hints we get about rick's marriage before diane even actually shows onscreen. both of these quotes demonstrate rather clearly that their relationship was dysfunctional in some capacity. that it was "failing".

so if we're call caught up let's move onto the season 3 premiere.

"why don't i go grab beth and we can go out for ice cream?" (the rickshank redemption, 301)

that's all she has to say after rick says he's giving up on science - his passion. which is rather odd because it was clearly something he was working on for some time and he just says he's giving it all up immediately. which is odd, right? this well seeming remark could be far more insidious than it seems.

i'm not the only one to point this out but that's it. she dismisses his feelings. she invites him out to a place with their daughter (where, with her present, they would be incapable of having an adult conversation which would put more distance between them) and in this regard, beth acts as a physical barrier between them both.

i'm not saying that diane is in the wrong here. i'm not saying rick is perfect. but that's one instance of their relationship where something pretty major had just happened. and it's immediately brushed off.

(abcs of beth, 309)

there are plenty of hints that rick was indeed an absentee father, even when he was still living with his daughter. take the abcs of beth, where rick talks about all the toys that child beth had to play with. beth insists that she asked him to make those because she wanted to spend time with him. let me repeat, beth explains that she wanted to spend time with her father so bad that she asked him to make lethal weapons for her to play with. plus the whole froopyland thing - an environment designed to be safe so he wouldn't have to keep an eye on her. it's obvious she channeled her neglect in a destructive way - aka in a way that she got from her father. but i digress.

the point is, rick has always been absent from his family in some capacity. whether it was emotionally as we see with diane or physically as we see with beth.

there are also some hints at infidelity on rick's end. take mr nimbus, who is confirmed to have known diane.

then when diane and beth die, he absolutely crumbled. and this scene does break my heart watching it bc we know it's not just a part of a fake memory now. it was all real. the pain he experienced in that moment - the hope he had of living a normal life and making everything up to his family - just got ripped away from him.

so even though on the surface, rick appears to have a healthy relationship w diane when she shows up in the show, that doesn't mean that's all there is. it's very unlikely based on all of the information presented in the earlier seasons that these two were stable together and i think that the presentation of diane as a perfect loving caring wife is intentional. it either represents how rick remembers her - as someone kind - or is only a small part of the equation.

oh and let's not forget the ghost ai that rick made for his dead wife. he designed her to berate him, to wear him down. to never let him move on from what happened. like that's something super messed up wow. maybe

in conclusion, rick has never had a stable family or home life. that thing didn't appeal or satisfy him. it caused him to neglect his daughter and continues to impact the relationship he has with his adult family members. by no means is this an excuse and that's hardly my point. i feel it's important that we know the reality of ricks marriage to understand how that impacts him in the show we're watching.

ofc this is just my take on what little we have seen from the two of them. i rlly want to see more so i can maybe make a better assessment. but yeah. whatever went on there? not healthy. no way in hell.

[glitteringcrab]

Deus Ex Machina

Season 2, Episode 3: "Auto-erotic assimilation"

Okay, we all remember this thing, right?

Or maybe you remember what it looked like when ALL of its parts were in use:

And the yellow liquid Rick poured on the poor creature (and drank himself) before using the machine was supposedly to synchronize (and kill) all versions of himself according to the creators' commentary (if it isn't something they simply made up on the spot during the recording).

Season 6, Episode 7: "Full Meta JackRick"

Morty puts on his meta goggles and... uh...

UM... WHAT????

[twink-ricksanchez]

I really admire the specific character development of their dynamic. What I appreciate about this show is how the whole family goes through character development. I think Rick from the first season easily recognized the toxicity of Jerry and immediately developed a disliking to him. But the thing is despite Jerry lacking intelligence, he continues throughout the show to also recognize Rick's toxic traits. Rick's distaste for Jerry partially comes from a concern for the rest of his family in how Jerry treats them (his codependency, his negligence of the kids, manipulative behaviors, etc). But in turn Jerry recognizes how Rick's sci Fi involvement has put the family in danger.

In the Whirly Dirly we see Rick genuinely try to connect with Jerry despite their history. Jerry is Morty's dad so to a degree he attempts connecting with him. Jerry messed up, and in the end of the episode recognized he needed to change for himself and his family. Rick also recognized his controlling behavior. And by the end of season 3 we see Rick come to terms with Jerry being part of his family (to a degree).

In Amortycan Graffiti, Rick did something blatantly manipulative to benefit himself and to use Jerry. Throughout the episode he fronts as someone who only cares for his daughter but we see at the end of the episode he apologizes and even admits he loves Jerry.

Season 6 really brings this to light as Rick spent his own free time to look into something that only Jerry cared about. He also frowned upon the way the kids treated Jerry in the beginning of the episode. He has his little outburst at the end (punching Jerry) but that doesn't take away from the fact that he has outgrown his hatred for Jerry and does genuinely care about him. (I know Rick does a lot of mental gymnastics to act like he doesn't care, but we all know he does.) Rick's character development is so fun to watch throughout this series.

[miami-lolz]

I saw this awesome question sheet by @bisexualricks and wanted to throw my hat into the ring!



1. top 5 episodes and why!

The Vat of Acid Episode - It was both a solid character introspection for both Rick & Morty, and also had some really funny moments. Morty flipping Rick off after he had to kiss the vat of acid absolutely sent me

Rest and Ricklaxation - There’s was a lot of funny bits in the episode and is generally pretty good. Also Jessica saying Rick would call her drunk asking about Morty or something is hilarious to me

Ricktional Mortpoon's Rickmas Mortcation - It was a huge turning point for lore but also Rick saying “perfectly fucking vertical.” In an incredulous tone absolutely kills me. Also solid light saber fight

The Rickchurian Mortydate - this entire episode was great from beginning to end. “oh I’ve got pubes, commander-in-queef, y-you wanna count them?” And Ricks rant on the Oval Office was hilarious.

Rickmurai Jack - I absolutely love Evil Morty’s character and the last half of the episode was especially fantastic. The music, EM’s rant “That’s what makes me evil, being sick of him.” Also I absolutely believe EM’s offer to let Morty Prime come with was a genuine offer. The whole “it was a toilet” was just EM trying to save face like he wasn’t kinda hurt.

2. least favorite episode(s) and why!

Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty - The subtext on this episode was mortifying and was just kinda weird and all over the place.

Final DeSmithation - There was a good couple funny bits throughout but again, any funny moments is ruined because we can’t go one season without weird incest plots.

Rickdependence Spray - I feel like this is self explanatory. Jfc Justin what we’re you thinking?

3. Moments that make you insane

“I don’t know this guy, you’re a my grandpa, Rick!” OH MY GODDD

The fact that Morty cares for a family he knows isn’t even technically his.

Mortys voice and expression when he yelled “Your not even in the hole, are you?!” In Fear No Mort because the amount of desperation in his tone nearly killed me

Rick lying to Morty about the Purge candy so he doesn’t realize what he has done. Like Rick absolutely could have told Morty the truth but decided not to.

4. your favorite lines

“oh I’ve got pubes, commander-in-queef, y-you wanna count them?”

“A Vat of Fake Acid, are you dying from dementia??”

“We could be clones, we could holograms, we could be clones controlled by holograms controlled by special remote control headsets the real Rick and Morty are wearing while they’re fucking your mother!”

“Betrayal! Betrayal on all sides!”

“You have a death crystal in your pocket??”

“No, yes, maybe!”

“You little monster, I thought you were masterbating!”

“And you took that in stride??”

“You rather I address it??”

5. Rick head-canons

⁃ Stopped doing any heavy partying after around season 1, not wanted to expose Morty to that, though he’d never admit that out loud

⁃ Is Bilingual, specifically he speaks Spanish. I’m pretty sure he’s canonically Hispanic as well.

⁃ He’s pansexual. He also hasn’t been in a serious relationship in decades. He avoids them after Diane. He did want something serious with BP tho

⁃ When he’s wasted, like emotionally upset and absolutely shit faced he will lock himself in the garage and avoid going near the Smith family

⁃ Sometimes Morty does things that reminds Rick of Prime and it drives him crazy. He will go out of his way to chastise Morty to try to get him to stop the things he can control

⁃ Rick doesn’t heal his battle scars as it’s a way to separate himself from other Ricks in the finite curve

⁃ Rick purposely let the original Prime universe get mutated and made it worse as a last middle finger to Rick Prime. He later felt kinda bad about it, just because he knows what he did is some petty shit Prime would have done.

6. Morty head-canons

⁃ Morty Prime has a lot more physical similars to Rick Prime then he does to Jerry. Most Mortys have brown but Morty Prime has blue eyes, similar to his Rick. His hair more disheveled and a bit more spiked.

- Refuses to drink alcohol most of the time because he’s seen what it’s done to people. However he will do recreational drugs & smoke cigarettes. Often on the roof on his house.

⁃ Morty has a jagged scar around the end of his hand where he had to use the train to cut his hand off. As well as a bit missing from his left ear from a stray gun shot, his nose is crooked from getting broken a lot and he’s missing a tooth.

⁃ He carry’s a blaster in his waistband and one under his pillow just in case. He is in general kinda paranoid

⁃ If Morty has a serious nightmare and/or can’t fall asleep he will sneak into his moms or Ricks alcohol stash and drink until he passes out because it’s the only way to get him to fall back asleep.

⁃ Sometimes Morty will stare at himself in the mirror and try to see if he has any similarities to Rick Prime and will try to change anything he finds. If another Morty refers to him as “Prime” he will bust their head open. Or cry.

⁃ Morty is aware Rick sees him as Rick Prime grandson, and is convinced one day Rick will finish what he started and kill him to. He’d never admit that to Rick

7. Family Head-Canons

Summer

- Is a lot more observant then she gets credit for.

- One of the reasons she started going on adventures with Rick is because she wanted to look out for her brother.

- She nearly cried when Rick told her she reminds him of Diane.

⁃ I could see her as Bi, as she’s flirted with Ethan and the girl from S7.

- She was planning on moving out as soon as she was 18, but lately has been thinking other wise. Her relationship with her family is a lot better then before.

Beth/ Space Beth

⁃ Trash TV is her guilty pleasure, like she says she watches it ironically but no she doesn’t

⁃ Not that great at cooking to be honest, never really got taught how to and can’t be bothered anymore

- is honestly proud of Summer for not ending up like her when Beth was her age

Jerry

⁃ is actually really solid at cooking, and would be a good house husband if he wasn’t kinda lazy.

⁃ Family is genuinely important to him and he honestly would sacrifice everything for them. Rick knows this and can respect Jerry for that

⁃ he’d never say it out loud but sometimes Morty scares him. He’s seemingly the only one to notice how aggressive he’s gotten lately and was mortified when Morty told him about the Tina-Teers thing.

8.Prime head-canons

⁃ He doesn’t regret what he did with Diane, but he did regret letting it get to that point

⁃ He honestly didn’t want to kill his own Morty, and was conflicted seeing him with C-137.

⁃ He was far from thrilled seeing what had become of his planet. He wasn’t necessarily attached to it or anyone in it, however he didn’t want it to end up as a wasteland.

- He’s been keeping tabs with Rick and Morty as was a little surprised with how Rick C-137 hasn’t killed Morty Prime or even really tried to.

- Wasn’t expecting Morty to take after him as much as he has.

9. Evil Morty head-canons

- Was actually bothered when Morty Prime didn’t accept his offer and just lied about it being a toilet seat to save face because he was kinda salty about it

- he’s definitely a clone, not sure what universe he’s based off of and doesn’t care anymore

- EM is lonely as hell and watch’s rom coms to pass the time. He’s not use to getting to live normally and isn’t sure what to do with all that free time

- he chose to use an eye patch because he knows Ricks are scared of pirates

- after the S1 finale, EM started keeping tabs on Rick C-137 and Morty Prime. It was also how he learned about the Prime universe

10. favorite rick and morty pair that ISNT c-137 and prime

Not technically a Rick & Morty pair but the Mortys from the citadel, Left-Handed Morty, Slick Morty, Glasses Morty, and Lizard Morty. The way Slick threw himself into the garbage shoot in a desperate attempt for other Mortys to be better off lives in my head rent free I wish they were still alive.

11. songs that you think relate to them

“This is love” by Air Traffic Controller. This song is such a good way to express Mortys codependency to Rick (not shipping btw you nastys)

[yahoo201027]

Day in Fandom History: September 10…

As Rick and Morty are away to Atlantis off-camera, the Citadel of Ricks begins to reconstruct with various subplots from a Cop Rick teaming up with a Cop Morty to a Morty running for President in which a Morty campaign manager thinks something is very wrong here. “The Ricklantis Mixup” premiered on this day, 6 Years Ago.

[bradleyenthusiast]

Personally I headcanon Jessica as a cheater. Mostly because it seems in line with her shallow character and honestly it makes me interested in learning more if she’s a bad person (multi-faceted). It makes the idolization of her character by Morty even more ridiculous, which is already begging to be explored in canon.

In terms of evidence, in season 1 episode 6 Brad is established as both Jessica’s boyfriend and an active presence in her life. He basically appears out of nowhere to intervene in Morty’s desperation, with Jessica saying nothing in Morty’s defense. (Only commenting when Brad says something to do with her.) Then, when Morty later confesses his love to a mindless love drunk Jessica, Brad’s first instinct is to push aside Morty and focus on what he’s doing, rather than question why his girlfriend is embracing him. It seems like Brad is less concerned with what Jessica does, but more how other people act towards her.

The season finale brought him back as well, showing us more sides of both him and Jessica, even when they’re not with each other. When Jessica gets upset with Brad, it’s not enough to actually leave him, but enough to cry in Morty’s ear about him beating up Hitler (after she specifically told him not to). This could’ve been the moment for them separating, to satisfy Rick’s plan to shut Morty up, but it wasn’t. Instead backfiring, with the episode ending with Jessica leaving, smiling under Brad’s arm, and adding more fire to Morty’s dissatisfaction with Rick.

However, jumping forward to season 2, we see no sign of Brad the entire season, while we do see Jessica getting much closer to Morty in Big Trouble in Little Sanchez. It’s entirely up in the air on how this came to be, although it can be assumed it was in part due to Tiny Rick boosting the popularity of Morty and Summer. This is notable, considering Brad’s main issue with Morty talking to Jessica was that she was “out of his league”. Later on, Jessica also comments that Summer selling out Tiny Rick was “self-destructive”. It’s at that, Morty seems to realize how he’s lost focus.

Brad’s absence here is additionally questionable considering that after jumping forward to season 3, in Rest and Ricklaxation, we hear that Brad and Jessica have broken up, and she’s looking for someone special, and nothing she’s “ever remotely considered in the past”. This is odd news considering that upon hearing this, Morty seems surprised and excited at this “new” prospect. It almost seems like these are taking place in alternate timelines where Jessica never went on that date with Morty just last season.

Brad doesn’t get mentioned again until the end of the episode, after Jessica shows that she only really cares about Morty enough to get Rick off her back and to have someone hanging around who worships her enough to serve as her emotional dumping ground. Rick and Jessica seem to share that in common (for at least this episode). Brad apparently got lunch with Jessica, and the two are on amicable terms, with her friends assuming the two will get back together.

Moving on to the comics, there are two additional instances of Jessica being with Brad but still pursuing Morty, adding onto Morty’s consistent pursuit of Jessica despite her relationship status. In Issue #20, we see Brad discourage Morty from Jessica by pointing out his shortcomings as usual, then promptly get handsy with Jessica. (I’m going to count it as them being written to be in a relationship again.) When Morty later appears at tryouts physically enhanced, Jessica is openly attracted to him, to which Brad makes no comment on, instead outraged at Morty’s sudden transformation.

Following this established dynamic up in Issue #27, when Morty asks Jessica to the dance, she says that Brad is already taking her, and further explains that irregardless, Morty’s whole deal is really weird. However, later on Morty says that Jessica’s changed her mind now that Brad broke his leg at practice, quite excited at the prospect. This is then squashed when after the dance, Morty explains that Brad made a miraculous appearance, then said that he called dibs on Jessica, and then dumped Morty in the toilet (with help from his friends). No mention of Jessica, no explaining why he was okay with her taking Morty to the dance, nothing.

From this, it implies Brad’s open to competition from others, but only those he perceives as equals. He’s more concerned with his ego than Jessica’s infidelity. Although this doesn’t mean he doesn’t fulfill his role as a protective boyfriend, (he always makes space between himself and others, always shields Jessica from whatever’s in front of her) he’s just very honest about what his main issue is. That isn’t that Jessica isn’t completely happy with him, it’s that his status is threatened when someone like Morty wins.

Meanwhile, Jessica doesn’t seem to know what she wants herself.

[amanda-519]

I have one main criticism of Rick and Morty, and it’s something that’s always kinda bugged me. Basically, I think that the show is inconsistent in its theming, specifically the theme of people being irreplaceable.

This theme is first brought up in the episode Rick Potion #6, when Rick and Morty leave their dimension and live in a new one. Rick tells Morty that people are replaceable, that there’s an infinite number of universes out there, so it doesn’t matter if they leave their old family, they can simply find a new one.

It makes sense that Rick is the one who thinks this, seeing as his general cynicism and years of portal travel would affect how he views people.

This idea is directly combated in the season 3 finale, when Beth begs Rick to leave her and her family alone. She directly brings up the fact that there’s an infinite number of universes out, and asks Rick to go to a different universe since she believes that he thinks she’s replaceable (again, not an unfounded idea, since in her mind she could be a clone, so he did in a sense “replace her”)

Yet Rick is unable to do so. He stays with his family even though he worked so hard so he’s in charge and Jerry is out of his life. Even when going to a different universe is easy. Because to Rick the family he has now isn’t replaceable.

I think this was a really good move, and shows the theming of the show quite well. Every character and their opinions make sense.

This theming continues in the episode Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort, when Rick takes a lot of time and effort into restoring Birdperson. He even risks his life for Bidrperson.

Birdperson even directly asks Rick why he went through all the trouble, since Birdperson is still under the impression that Rick thinks people are replaceable. Rick even plainly states that people aren’t replaceable, that people are important to him because of their relationship.

Again, this is a good move. I understand how Rick got to this place, and it’s nice character development that started in season 1, got expanded in season 3, and is now a staple theme of the show.

This theme is brought up once again in Solaricks, though only briefly, with the family wanting “their” Jerry back, even though the Jerry they have now is technically the Jerry Beth married, it’s understood that it’s not the same Jerry they have all grown attached to.

Yet, after season 6 is when this theme gets a little…. Fuzzy. Remember in Solaricks the family moves to a new dimension, all of their alien friends they have are from their old dimension. That includes Unity.

I was a bit surprised in the episode Air Force Wong when Unity showed up, as that’s the same Unity we saw before. Now it’s not just Rick acting like people are replaceable, that the family really can go to a new universe and everyone is the same, but the show is acting like that’s true too.

It seems like the show wants to have its cake and eat it too, as it wants to have the theme of people not being replaceable, as well as showing the consequences of thinking that (as Morty experienced the consequences of leaving his old family behind in Solaricks), but also not wanting to commit to that idea and actually thinking how that would affect characters who don’t have portal travel.

The show wants me to believe that the family really can just pick up and move to a new dimension if theirs get destroyed, while also saying that’s a bad thing and that people can’t be replaced.